Best Repeat Champions: The Baltimore Blast

This paper once referred to the Baltimore Blast as the Yankees of indoor soccer. And while it’s true the Blast have won titles at a rate similar to the Bronx Bombers, nobody would confuse them as a group of multi-millionaire primadonnas that feels entitled to a championship. No, they work for it, and nowhere was that more evident than the team’s second championship in as many years. The Blast once again faced the Soles de Sonora for the title, and they went down in the series 0-1. That seemed to be par for the course; there were many points when the team had put itself into a hole, only to find a way to crawl back out. “We know we can do it and we are going to give everything to do it!!!!” goalie William Vanzela posted after the Game 1 loss. And win they did, with a miracle last-second goal in Game 2, a game-ending golden goal, and a shutdown performance in the series-ending mini game. It was the kind of performance you’d expect from a scrappy underdog, not one of the sport’s most dominating franchises.